One of the challenges of having infants/toddlers in a home is that they can wonder away very quickly from a supervising adult. It is a great concern when infants or toddlers have access to stairways or the kitchen area where items are possibly hot or chemically hazardous. In response to these concerns there has developed a commercial market for baby gates. The baby gate is positioned across the bottom and/or top of a stairwell to prevent the infant/toddler from reaching the first stairway tread. These same gates are also being used by pet owners to block thresholds into rooms and/or stairwells.
The baby gates on the market take different forms. One such example is a gate comprised of plastic mesh wherein the gate is held in place within a doorway or threshold by a pair of spring loaded rods. The spring loaded rods are tensioned to frictionally brace the gate within the threshold.
A second type of gate is also formed of a plastic mesh but the means of securing the gate differs from the first example. In this model the means to secure the gate takes the form of two wooden slats wherein the slats are formed with notches. A metal clip mechanism is used in combination with the notches so that the gate is interlockingly secured by a frictional fit within the threshold.
A third type of gate takes the form of an expandable assembly that, just as in the first two examples, is frictionally braced between two rigid elements such as opposite sides of a door threshold. This third type of gate has a quick release type of handle atop the assembly that is squeezed in combination with a safety button to retract elements which frictional engage the threshold.
The market also includes an accordion wooden gate with eyelets affixed to the ends. The first three examples of gates require that the gate be removed and stored in order to pass through the threshold. The accordion wooden gate, with some ingenuity, can be rigged to hang upon the wall in a retracted position when not in use. This takes quite an effort. As a result, these gates are also commonly expanded across the threshold and stored upon removal. What is also important to note is that if someone is ambitious enough to try and mount the accordion gate that the gate is spaced above the floor a substantial distance. As will be noted in this application, the gate would be spaced that substantial distance above the floor due to trim molding unless further wood is also mounted to the wall to make such coplanar with the molding. In any case, this act would take substantial amounts of time, would be unsightly and possibly dangerous depending on the hardware used.